Yoga, Consciousness, and Climate Change
Vedic wisdom declares: Take care of nature, and nature will take care of you. How do we take care of nature in a time of climate emergency? Yogacharya O’Brian outlines steps that begin to change the climate of our heart and our mind so yoga, consciousness, and climate change meet.
Yogacharya Ellen Grace O’Brian is the founder and spiritual director of the Center for Spiritual Enlightenment, a meditation center in the tradition of Kriya Yoga with world headquarters in San Jose California. CSE is currently celebrating over 40 years of service to seekers of spiritual enlightenment as a year-long celebration with many special retreats and programs as a Divine Pilgrimage or Yoga Yatra. You can find out more about these programs at CSECenter.org.
Yogacharya is an acclaimed teacher, poet, award-winning author. You can find out more about Yogacharya’s books, teaching and her in-person and online programs at her author website, EllenGraceOBrian.com. You can also follow her on social media: Facebook, Instagram and YouTube by searching for Ellen Grace O'Brian.
Link to Yogacharya’s ORIGINAL INTIMACY:SOUL PILGRIMAGE TO FIVE AUSPICIOUS HEALING SHRINES Satsang Series and Resourse page with free E-books on the five elements.
YOGA HOUR TEAM COMMENTS: The teachings offered today by Yogacharya O’Brian about Yoga, consciousness and climate change give us hope. She said that "even though things can feel very overwhelming and we feel challenged day to day in many different ways, the path of Yoga teaches us that we have what we need to meet these challenges and gives us the tools to live an inspired life." We can look to the teachings of Yoga to understand that we are not separate from nature. Nature is us and nature is God. It is all One. We don’t control nature. Yoga philosophy gives us the skills to overcome the limitations of the mind. One of the tools that you discussed which supports us in changing this mindset is understanding the four branches of yoga. They are temperament types of which one is usually predominant in the way we individually approach knowing the Truth of who we are, but they are intertwined. One without the other is not balanced. As yogis we can lift up our spiritual practices and observe how these paths of yoga are a way that connects us back to nature. Yogacharya told us that "Yoga teaches us about the generous and sacred nature of life itself. Yoga is about learning to live as the luminous beings that we are in this profound connection between nature and spirit." As Roy Eugene Davis said, “there is an enlivening power that is nuturing the universa and all we have to do is learn to cooperate with it.”
DR. TRUJILLO’S COMMENTS: Yogacharya and I spoke about the importance of changing the climate of our minds from being ego-based to appreciating the underlying Oneness between ourselves and the outer world. I enjoyed our discussion of the four paths of yoga, and how they can help us to see the small steps forward we can take during this climate emergency. As you said, all the paths of yoga help us to break down the sense of separate self. The four yoga paths represent different ways of merging with the One. Learning how to live as the luminous beings that we are calls us to a different relationship with Divine Mother through our relationship with nature. I loved the quote from Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita: "I am the wetness of water, the radiance of the moon and the sun, the sound in the air, and the sweet fragrance of earth. I am the brilliance in fire and the life in all beings.” To me, this really speaks of the sacredness of nature and of all life.